Apple's iPad tablet device is helping businesses take on more environmentally friendly habits, enabling them to cut costs and save resources.

Energy usage, environmental auditing and paper reduction are all areas where businesses are seeing improvements as a result of adopting the iPad. Read on for a closer look at each, and let us know in the comments how else businesses can go green with the iPad.

Managing Energy Usage

Lutron's energy management iPad app

One of the best ways to save energy is to arm yourself with the proper tools for managing it. There are many types of energy management solutions — in the beginning, it was all about buying eco-friendly gadgets and appliances, coupled with energy-saving power sources. But more and more, the focus is on tackling the underlying problem — the overuse of energy — from the get-go.

Lutron is one of the top lighting control design and manufacturing companies, having created energy-saving solutions for homes and businesses of all types, including those that power The New York Times Building. Lutron is now leading the way in how people manage energy control systems from tablet devices.

With the Lutron Home Control+ iPad app ($19.99), home or business users with Lutron's RadioRA 2 or HomeWorks QS control systems installed can monitor their systems while away from home, control multiple systems, adjust energy-saving preferences, modify time clock functionalities and edit presets. The app is basically a remote control for a user's lights, window shades, temperature thermostats and appliances.

While the iPad app runs with Lutron's RadioRA 2 and HomeWorks QS systems, which are specifically designed for home use cases, a Lutron technician explained that the systems (and app) are currently being used by smaller scale businesses, including offices and restaurants.

Simplifying Environmental Auditing

A demonstration of Elm Consulting Group's use of the smartNote's iPad app for HSE auditing

An important part of environmental goal setting for many businesses, especially manufacturing and industrial companies, is how they stack up on their Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) audits, in which they are rated on compliance with environmental laws, permits and company standards. The iPad is making this process more streamlined and less document intensive.

SmartNotes enables the company to import and notate scanned documents; capture data (over 50 pages of handwritten notes for an average audit); create charts, tables and diagrams; highlight important notes with the highlighter feature; tag data needing further clarification and export notes for e-mailing to clients as one handy file.

It is important to note that it wasn't at all necessary for Elm to create its own iPad app for auditing — instead, Director Lawrence Heim, CPEA reviewed a number of apps to find the one that filled the company's needs.

Heim says that more clients have come to the company as a result of using the iPad. "We have been using it for audits for 6-8 months now and have shown a 15-20% time efficiency and labor savings in the dozen or so audits we have done with the iPad," he said. "Our use also reduces errors and omissions in audits, ensuring a more thorough process and end result."

With more accurate and timelier documents, it's no wonder why businesses are interested in giving the firm's method a try. With Elm's iPad auditing, businesses are not only on their way to being greener by improving upon HSE compliance laws, but they're also employing a more environmentally friendly firm.

Elm claims to be the only consulting firm using the iPad for HSE audits. While the firm currently holds an advantage over other paper-heavy auditors, it is offering up its advice in upcoming webinars on how to use the iPad for HSE auditing.

Reducing Paper Usage

A marketing brochure by architectural design firm BCRA Design, housed on an iPad

Paper usage reductions is one of the more obvious ways that the iPad has helped businesses get in touch with their environmentally friendly sides. For starters, the iPad is suitable for cutting down on all kinds of paper when it comes to note taking, reading documents and filling out forms and reports.

Architectural design firm BCRA, for example, turned to the iPad to lessen its impact on the environment and decrease printing costs.

Design firms are traditionally very heavy on paper use, as brochures are a means of marketing their portfolios. Prior to adopting iPads, BCRA's 150-person staff relied solely on about 200 unique printed pieces to tell its story. The first step for BCRA was to decrease printing impact by opting for more environmentally friendly printing products, such as soy-based inks and FSC-certified paper.

But to truly make an impact, the firm decided to decrease its dependency on printing altogether. Instead, the company uses iPads to showcase presentations, designs and maps to clients. BCRA estimates that the use of iPads has led to a reduction of about 41 pounds of paper per month, representing about $1,507 per month in savings associated with printing costs alone.

By the end of 2011, BCRA plans on outfitting each of its departments that interact with clients with iPads, loaded with up-to-date brochures and other marketing and productivity materials that aid in client presentations and working meetings. Furthermore, the firm estimates that by year's end, new orders of printed brochures will be reduced by 80%, as those brochures will be found on employee iPads instead. This amounts to roughly 1,000 new brochures and 6,000 individual high quality single sheet handouts that do not need to be produced, saving the company $15,000+ annually on printing cost, according to BCRA.

Your Findings

There are a lot of apps out there to help home owners and businesses in their efforts to be more environmentally friendly, and here, we've noted a few interesting case studies. Let us know in the comments about how you've seen businesses using the iPad to go green.

Series Supported by LogMeIn Ignition

The iPad for Business Series is supported by LogMeIn Ignition. Contrary to popular opinion, iPads aren’t just for games any more. Unleash it’s full potential and make your iPad work for work, download LogMeIn Ignition and get one-touch access to all your applications and files on your remote computers from your iPad/iPhone. You’ll be more productive anywhere, anytime thanks to the App Store’s #1 third-party Productivity App of 2010.

Mashable
is a global, multi-platform media and entertainment company. Powered by its own proprietary technology, Mashable is the go-to source for tech, digital culture and entertainment content for its dedicated and influential audience around the globe.